In order to effectively assist the Philippinese government in its pursuit of economic development, the Philippines Supreme Audit Institution (SAI), the Commission on Audit (COA), has decided to review and "reinvent" audit strategies and training programs suited to the current thrusts of the government.
Up to the late seventies, the COA conducted training on a fragmented basis and focused on basic auditing skills. Training programmes were designed to fill the gap in accounting and auditing courses in undergraduate coursework, with the accounting and auditing training programs focusing on the laws and regulations of government and on howauditors could enforce these laws through expert knowledge of government accounting and audit procedures such as cash examination and property inspection.
In the early eighties, with the recognition of the importance of getting value out of government money, and in line with the government's economic development efforts, the COA adopted comprehensive audit techniques which included the "value for money" or performance audits. With the assistance of the United Nations, COA tapped international audit expertise in adopting new audit approaches which involved new training courses. This involved adoption and offering of courses in performance audit and public finance, among others. COA was in fact one of the first SAIs to provide training on these fields to auditors from other SAIs in Asia.
The improvements on training notwithstanding, COA recently decided to review its training programs on a comprehensive basis to rationalize the suitability thereof to the government's current pursuits and to enhance the professional development of its auditors.
This paper will discuss the training programs that have been developed to support the new training vision.,
Before revising its training programs, COA defined its goals for training: 1) the training must provide the auditors a perspective of auditing within the context of the government's current efforts at economic revival, and 2) it must provide a guided career path development to its auditors, infusing them with skills they need as they move up the different levels of responsibility.
The success of the new COA training programs therefore hinges on three factors 1) identification of needed skills and expertise, 2) development of training programs that will effectively infuse needed skills among target trainees and 3) use of training programs as a major strategy in the active management of the professional development of COA personnel.
COA training cannot however be limited to auditing personnel. It is mandated by law to provide training and information necessary to enable enforcement by auditors and compliance by agencies with various laws and regulations relating to financial matters. To be effective therefore, COA needs to reach personnel of the entire government sector: a) its own personnel, the COA auditors, and b) personnel of audited agencies. On the one hand COA must train its auditors to conduct all types of audit in a professional and proficient manner in any government agency. On the other hand, COA must provide training needed by Agency heads who have the primary fiscal responsibility for their respective agencies, and their personnel who exercise delegated responsibility for fiscal functions.
In sum, the goals of the redesigned training programs must be to ensure that auditors and auditees alike have the proper perspective and skills for playing a role that will enhance the integrity and productivity of government agencies.
To accomplish its goals for training,, the COA identified key strategies and approaches for reviewing and revising its training programs, as shown below:
Having identified the different levels of responsibility and corresponding training requirements, COA's training center, the State Accounting and Auditing Development Office (SAADO), developed training programs suited to each level of responsibility. The key strategies in this development involved integration, standardization and simulation techniques.
Integration of formerly fragmented audit training programs was used to develop among trainees a broad and comprehensive appreciation of COA audit.
Standardization of course content was sought with the preparation of standardized faculty manuals stating the objectives of the course and each topic under the course, the methods to be used to impart the knowledge under the topic, and the faculty notes. Laws and regulations relevant to the course are compiled and provided to participants for reference in solving problems. This way, regardless of the changes in members of the faculty, the COA has reasonable assurance of a minimum quality of course content.
Simulation is one of the many alternative techniques which COA adopted to complement the usual lecture method. These techniques are derived from the concept of experiential learning which espouses that learning is better appreciated and skills more effectively imbibed when experienced directly. To enrich the trainees' learning, the new COA training programs simulate actual fieldwork in a classroom setting.
The use of simulation required research and development work to enable trainors to develop problem sets that simulate actual conditions obtaining in the field in a classroom setting. Rather than summarizing problems in the usual examination format, or presenting facts in a case, the problems duplicate financial documents and transactions for analysis in class. Problems are identified only after trainees follow the proper audit program and view auditing problems in terms of objectives, to identify procedures needed to achieve these objectives. For example, to be able to determine if an account balance is proper, the participant must trace the vouchers to the subsidiary and general ledgers and perform the necessary computation and analysis of supporting documents suited to the account being audited. With simulation, the course is able to integrate more auditing problems which participants may not encounter in an ordinary on-the-job training. Simulation however is not used to supplant training on the job. In some courses, simulation is supplemented by on-the-job training to enable participants to conduct an actual audit.
Many of the other new methods such as brainstorming, group discussions, buzz method, fish bowl, etc. required the retraining of COA's trainors by faculty from the University of the Philippines. Assistance from the academe as well as from other training institutions is being worked out with respect to value orientation, management training and public administration.
With the above steps, the State Accounting and Auditing Development Office (SAADO), the COA's training center, developed the Multi-Level Training and Personnel Development Plan for COA's personnel and for non-COA personnel performing fiscal functions, as shown below.
A. Training for COA Personnel
The training for COA personnel is divided into four levels which are designed to provide knowledge and skills matched to the participants' levels of responsibility. Level I called BASIC SKILLS TRAINING seeks to provide basic skills in problem-solving in accounting and auditing with the necessary orientation in the rudiments of government,COA employment, legal philosophy and interpretation, and basic concepts on personality development and value formation. This level takes the participant to the field and to the courtroom in a classroom setting. The preparation of audited financial statements, identification of findings and formulation of audit opinion are followed by a mock trial on the findings of the course to sharpen the skills of the participants in identifying, preserving and defending audit evidence.
Level II is called ADVANCED AUDIT SKILLS TRAINING which aims to impart more advanced skills in audit decision-making, such as determining which audit opinion to issue in various situations, evaluating significance of findings and recommendations for inclusion in the report, structuring the findings and recommendations, writing the annual audit report, conducting and reporting on a performance audit, using the computer in basic audit and reporting work, and using computer-assisted audit techniques.
Level III is called SUPERVISORY AND HIGHER AUDIT SKILLS TRAINING which seeks to develop supervision and management skills at the level of auditing unit heads, auditteam leaders and division chiefs, and higher levels of specialization in auditing such as fraud awareness and management of presentation and exit conferences. It also includes a second part which deals with concepts of public administration so that auditors will see their work in the context of the whole government and its interrelated systems, learn the concepts of management peculiar to government, and develop a broad view of government auditing. Level IV is called SENIOR EXECUTIVE SKILLS TRAINING which seeks to develop senior executive skills, primarily: planning, briefing, and other related computer and management skills.
The COA, through the SAADO, hopes that with the revised training programs, it can work out with the education authorities for the conversion of the training programs to Certificate and Graduate Programs.
B. Training for Personnel of Audited Agencies
To train auditee agency personnel involved in fiscal operations whose functions are closely related with audit work to equip them with the knowledge and skills necessary for the effective discharge of their fiscal responsibility, the SAADO provides Non-COA personnel with three levels of courses:
Level I (called BASIC FISCAL SKILLS) seeks to provide basic skills in the bookkeeping and custodial functions of the target clientele, and consists of three (3) main courses : Cash Management and Control, Property and Supply Management, and Government Financial Accounting.
Level II (called ADVANCED FISCAL SKILLS) which involves courses designed to equip auditee agency personnel with knowledge and skills to enable them to discharge their fiscal functions and comply with relevant auditing rules and regulations at the supervisory and managerial levels of responsibility.
Level III (called EXECUTIVE APPRECIATION LEVEL) seeks to familiarize top officials of audited agencies with government's fiscal system and the relevant auditing rules and regulations they need to adhere to, in order to effectively manage the government resources entrusted to them, and fiscal responsibility and accountability.
Implementation of the above courses is done on an incremental basis, as the courses are developed. Since the establishment of the multi-level training program in April in 1993, SAADO has conducted five (5) classes at Level I courses for COA personnel. Level II classes are expected to be conducted early in 1994. Level III is being developed in-house although the COA hopes to obtain assistance in some areas while Level IV classes will be developed in cooperation with management training institutions and the academe to ensure that the supervisory and managerial courses broaden the perspective of COA officials based on the theory and practice of public administration.
The COA hopes that with the new training programs, it can become an effective partner of the government in enhancing the integrity and productivity of government agencies. This worthy goal notwithstanding, there are structural problems which can waterdown the effectiveness of the new training programs unless these are simultaneously addressed.
For a government which has been in existence for many years, and which has attempted to address the many needs and problems of its constituencies through various institutions and policy instruments, obsolescence and conflict in laws, rules and regulations is inevitable. Consequently, COA has joined the efforts of the government in streamlining the bureaucracy through streamlining auditing laws, rules and regulations. This was started with the codification of auditing laws and rules in a 3 - volume series called the Government Accounting and Auditing Manual which was completed in 1992, and current efforts at compiling laws, rules and regulations by audit areas to provide support to the codification.
COA is also busy reinventing audit strategies and deregulating audit. The use of sampling on an organization-wide scale is being adopted in the conduct of regularity and other types of audit. Further, auditing laws which are procedural and vulnerable to changes imposed by time and the economy, among others, are being considered for revision and/or deletion so that the government will not be hampered by excessive and unreasonable rules and regulations.
The COA is aware that the success of its efforts to enhance the integrity and productivity of government depends heavily on three things: 1) proper definition of its role as the watchdog of public funds seeking to protect government resources while carefully avoiding being a hindrance to government action so that the latter can be free to achieve its goals, 2) proper formulation of audit strategies and techniques that will evaluate government action without being obstructive, and 3) development and implementation of training to develop skills needed in audit.
With careful attention to all of the foregoing factors and rebuilding of the training center that was destroyed by fire in 1992, the COA is confident that it can play a vital role in making the government's economic revival a reality.